


A Friend From The Past

by Olivander112, Scarcasm



Series: Charles Durand: The Lila Hater [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien why, Adrien will get better, Akumatized Main Character(s), Angry Alya Césaire, Childhood Friends, Don't test Charles' patience, F/M, He'll learn from his mistake, I hate her so much, Lila Rossi Bashing, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette knows Chinese, Or you'll die, Some angst, Tags might change once the story is further developed, You're a sweet boi, but why, maybe a sprinkle of fluff here and there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 16:58:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20696930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Olivander112/pseuds/Olivander112, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarcasm/pseuds/Scarcasm
Summary: Marinette's childhood friend transferred to her school a week after Chameleon. Charles Durand is not taking Lila's shit, not when her lies are making Marinette depressed and sad. This story is about Charles being there for Marinette when the class is being stupid imbeciles. Get ready for your life to get ruined Lila, you don't mess with Marinette without getting away with it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> An idea that I decide to use but will eventually abandon this story, I'm sure. Until then, enjoy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _”Hell is empty_  
_And all the devils are here.”_  
-WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, _THE TEMPEST_

Most of his friends would say that he was a pacifist who wouldn't hurt a fly. And most of the time, he would agree. Emphasis on _most_ of the time. Charles wasn't one to be mean or violent towards anyone, well, not unless he could get away with it without consequences, of course. But in a mere five minutes of observing the way his new classmates treated his best friend, Marinette, that assumption of him would have to be tossed right out the window. Cause he _really _wanted to hurt them. Especially that Italian bitch. He would be certain to give her extra-special treatment.

Lila Rossi.

During the first minute of standing in this classroom and introducing himself to his new classmates, Charles had caught the eye of his best friend, sitting at the very back. _Okay, that's normal, _ he thought. Marinette had never particularly enjoyed being the centre of attention. As the seat beside her was empty, the teacher assigned him to sit next to her. However, once he sat beside her, he was close enough to finally notice how...miserable she looked. Eyes drawn, lips downturned, the books piled on the table in front of her, an unconsciously-created barrier against the students surrounding her. Her subconscious trying to protect her, where there had been nobody to do so on her behalf.

_Marinette, miserable? Unheard of! _

He couldn’t comprehend it. Charles knew for a fact that Marinette should be smiling and happy, but she wasn't. Not after he’d memorized how those same lips could curve into a joyous, carefree smile that always gave him butterflies in his stomach—

Anyway! It was unlike the half-Chinese girl to look gloomy, it unsettled him a little.

But he didn't say anything about it, choosing to respect her seeming need for space and turned to observe the class instead, watching the flow of dynamics, determining the pecking order, trying to acclimatize himself to the unwritten rules of his new environment. He kept his ears open to their gossiping when the teacher was busy, eyes monitoring how the Italian girl at the front attempted to glue herself to Adrien Agreste. Poor kid. Charles wouldn’t have traded his quiet little island at the back of the classroom for anything, and certainly not for the supposed ‘privilege’ of sitting through hours after hours of mindless rambling.

The self-proclaimed Queen Bee of the class was now laughing at something Adrien had said, although Charles was pretty certain it hadn’t been even remotely funny. You know the type. Short skirts, long hair, enough makeup to stock a Chanel boutique, that high, breathless laugh. The trilling laughter reminded him of the snobbish society ladies, and it grated on his ears, generating an urge to throw something, preferably heavy, with sharp corners to get her to just _shut up_ for a second. Queen ‘B’ was about right, if you added an ‘itch’. She was a right irritant in the arse, anyway, so it fitted surprisingly well. And she bitched about a lot of things, blaming others for whatever misfortune had befallen her in the past week.

One eye still scanning the class, he was listening with half an ear to the gossip on the other side when his ears heard _it_ uttered, albeit quietly. Marinette’s name. It was nearly buried under the loud chatter of the others, but he focused on that gaggle of clustered students, straining to catch snippets of the conversation.

"I feel so bad for Charles, he has to sit next to _Marinette _of all people."

"I know, right? I mean, what if she decided to spread lies about Lila to him?"

"Then we gotta stop it before he hates Lila too! She doesn't deserve the hate at all!"

"Yeah. I still can't believe Marinette is being a bitch like Chloe, she was never this way before."

"I guess some people are that good at being a goody-two-shoes. I can't believe we were her friends."

Suffice to say, he was livid. Especially when he saw Lila smirking at Marinette. At that moment, he knew that bitch was going to be trouble. If you asked Charles at that very moment, he would probably had jumped at the chance to give her a good hard high-five in the face with an encyclopedia.

_Trrrrriiiiiiiiiing~_ The bell finally went with a merry sound that seemed to taunt him. Somehow or other, he’d managed to suffer through the first period without getting a stroke. His blood pressure was soaring, fists clenching as he tried to calm himself, trying not to get angry at what the students were gossiping about. But—

_What the fuck is wrong with them? _

Charles knew he shouldn't be getting this angry, but he couldn't help it. Marinette had been his dearest friend for 9 years, ever since they had met when they were five, kids in a time long past. Back then, he had sworn to be her knight in shining armour for some reason, but he had never regretted that decision. Yet when she’d needed him the most, he had failed to be there for her. He felt wretched, cursing himself inwardly. He hated this, this pack of liars and sneaky lowlifes- it was as if he was back at old school. Some things never changed. No matter how far you ran, they just couldn’t be outrun. But he had one thing going for him that Marinette didn’t- he didn't care for the opinions of others. He’d developed the hide of an elephant to take their jabs and snide comments in stride. In his view, haters were going to hate no matter what you did; some people just wanted an excuse to feel superior to others. So you might as well go about your day doing whatever the heck you wanted, and flip the metaphorical middle finger at them. They didn’t deserve the brain space required to consider their opinions.

But Marinette…Marinette was different. She couldn’t find that numb, private space where people couldn’t hurt her, the place Charles often visited. She felt too deeply, cared too much- everything those vultures liked in a victim. He knew her long enough to know that she would crumble if the class kept this up. Maybe even get akumatized—

A hand on his arm startled him from his dark train of thought, and his head swivelled to the right, so fast it almost gave his neck whiplash. _It’s Marinette,_ he assured himself. For a tense moment, he’d thought his expression had given away his inner thoughts. She gave him a faint smile, a look that said 'I'm alright'. Charles pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes at her. The half Chinese girl just sighed and patted his arm, "It doesn't bother me a lot."

’_Yes it does, don't lie._’ He wanted to say as much but decided against it. Instead, he stood up and bowed in front of her, giving her his hand and a lazy smirk.

"Well, if you're sure. To lunch then, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng?" Surprise flashed across Marinette’s features— _cute—_ before she let out a giggle and accepted his hand.

"To lunch." She nodded. The two childhood friends stick together, side by side as they walked out of class. Charles hadn't missed the look the Agreste kid was giving him, nor did he care. For now, his focus was on Marinette.

* * *

"It's been a long time, Char."

He let out a hum, taking a bite of his burger. "Two years of complete separation can do that to you," he said cheekily through a mouth full of food.

"Swallow your food before you talk, Charles." Marinette poked his cheek, making him roll his eyes.

They sat on the bench eating in silence, listening to the sound of trees rustling and cars whizzing past on the tarmac. The food was gone in a matter of minutes. Man, a _lot_ of calories were required to survive half a day in the prison camp known worldwide under the innocuous name of ‘school’.

"So..." Awkward silence ensues.

It had been so long since they've met and talked. Charles wasn't sure where to even start. Ask her about her current problem with the class? And what about Lila? Is it all just a misunderstanding and he was judging Lila to quickly? Why were they even talking about the sweet, kind and loving Marinette that way? Unable to think of a sensitive way to ask the delicate question, Charles made up his mind swiftly.

_The direct way it is, then. _

"What lies had she been telling everyone?" Charles finally asked, smoothing his expression. He caught the lift curl the corner of her lips up, no doubt thinking about something that was amusing.

"Lila has tinnitus. She sprained her arm. She once saw a guy in India get their eye gouged out by a napkin—"

"What?"

"I know, I still can't believe they got fooled by that one. Jagged Stone had a cat Lila saved before finding out he was allergic, which everyone knew it was false if they actually search up that fact. Lila caught tinnitus as a result of saving Jagged Stone’s cat, also untrue. Lila didn't experience vertigo when going up the Eiffel tower because Ladybug gave her and earplug."

Charles raised a brow at the last one. He was in disbelief at the unbelievable lies that Lila was apparently able to shit out from her fake Italian ass. Catching the look Marinette was giving him, he pulled a face, realizing that there was more. More stupid lies that convinced others to go against Marinette. Seriously though, a napkin gouging a guy's eyes off? At that point, he wondered how low her classmates IQ were to fall for that. Charles knew a saying. ‘Humans use less than 10% of our brain in daily activities.’ It appeared his new classmates were likely brain-dead zombies who’d evolved the bare minimum capability of movement and senseless speech, because they seemed to be exercising even fewer grey cells than molluscs did. And molluscs didn’t have brains. Go figure.

"She also framed me for cheating... I got suspended for a few days after that."

He pressed his lips together, creating a thin line. His face remained blank, but inside he was raging, a black, boiling mass seething in his chest, clawing at the inside of his ribcage as it sought a way out. It felt like he was trying to contain a tsunami in a glass jar, and he wouldn’t be able to hold it for very long.

_That good-for-nothing Italian bitch!_ Even in his head, the spitting tone he’d used made the dark emotion a little more bearable.

Letting out a harsh breath, he brought his hand up to his head and brushed his brown hair to the right, resisting the urge to let out a scream intended to burst Lila’s eardrums.

_The human body has upwards of seven trillion nerves. Why do some people insist on getting on every single one of mine? _

Indeed, today was a day of wonders for Charles.

"Anyone else who knows that Lila is bullshitting?" He asked quietly, scooting closer to Marinette and wrapping an arm around her shoulder, letting her lean on him. Charles could see the hesitance Marinette was showing, his grip on her tightened only so slightly to show her his support. It was a wonder he hadn't been akumatized. Heck, it was a freaking miracle Marinette was able to last this long without being akumatized too!

"I—Well... It's—A...Adrien......"

Wait, wouldn't that mean the model had her back if he knew about it, and was her friend? Adrien had Gabriel Agreste as his dad, surely, he could do something about Lila to stop her lies from hurting Marinette and her reputation… right?

"But—"

Shit, he’d asked too soon, hadn't he?

"He told me that it's better if we ignore it, since her lies aren’t hurting anyone. If we expose her or anything, it would only akumatize her again and give Ladybug and Chat Noir a hard time." Marinette choked out, her body leaning closer to Charles, drawn to the solid comfort of his presence like a lodestone to a magnet. Normally, he would’ve been slightly embarrassed due to such close proximity. At this moment, though, the only thought in his head was how fucking _imbecilic _her so-called ‘friend’ was being. Christ, if they kept this up, Marinette was going to break and get akumatized by Hawk fucking Moth.

Pushing down his anger for Marinette's sake, Charles leaned in and kissed her head, arms enfolding her and rocking her as she sobbed quietly, blocking any bystanders’ view of her. There weren't that many people around to begin with.

"Don't worry, I'm here now.” _I hate myself for not being here sooner._ “I'll always be here to help you, support you, and if you truly need someone by your side, you'll never be able to get rid of me.” Another pause as he sucked in a grim breath. “You don't need those shitheads, you'll have me and I'll be there whenever you're in a pickle. Your knight is back to protect you, Principessa, and he's staying with you forever."

Charles finally let go of Marinette, but his hands remained on her shoulders. Marinette looked at him, clearly stunned by his magnificent declaration, if he did say so himself. He jumped when she let out a short burst of laughter, but laughed along with her anyway, relieved beyond words.

"Thanks, Charles, you're the bestest friend anyone could ever ask for." That gratitude in her eyes, that smile, oh my lord, it's so cute. Why the hell did it feel like there were butterflies cavorting and somersaulting in his stomach?

"My pleasure, princess. You deserve the world." _You deserve that and so much more,_ he continued to himself.

She certainly deserved better than this foul pile of yarn that stinks so bad they can probably smell it in the Underworld.

* * *

A few feet away from them, Adrien was just standing there, his hands clenched into fists, feeling the tips of his nails dig into the flesh of his palm as he watched the two childhood friends laugh and joke around. The physical closeness between them caused his stomach to churn at the sight. The model was quite confused as to why he was feeling this way since they were only doing what friends did.

Yet it made him feel sick, the idea of them being so close, the fact that Marinette was never like this whenever she was around him. His face dropped. _Why?_ And _he _was the only one who called Marinette princess, not the new student. It wasn’t fair! How could that Charles just waltz in and light her up like a candle? His own world was going up in flames, a queasy curdling in his stomach.

Adrien sighed and walked back to class when he saw them rise to their feet. He hoped that the sudden barrier between him and Marinette was gone; he’d really missed her presence. And her smile... And that laugh. That laugh Charles had elicited and hadn’t been for him

He's still going to deny Plagg that he had a crush on her. Cause, they're just friends.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Olivander:  
Oh Adrien, get ready to get smacked by reality. You too Lila. :)
> 
> This is short only because I'm too lazy to make it longer. The next chapter will be longer since it has Marinette's and Charles' point of view.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Scarcasm: Yo. /tips hat/  
Scar here. Chapter 1 edited, now working on Chapter Two. Hope you liked my edits, ‘cause I’m not going to alter the storyline too much. If I do, it’ll be in the form of suggestions for future chapters. Already tossed an idea into the works, Olivander is workin’ their magic to weave it in.
> 
> Random Snippet of your co-authors’ conversation:  
Olivander: See where you can fit [ idea ] into the story?  
Scarcasm: /stabs steak knife blindly at chapter to see where it lands/
> 
> \----
> 
> Heh. If you don’t like the edits I’ve done, comment, and we’ll see what we can do about it. Ideas, mini scenes for the story, artwork, typo pointouts, constructive criticism, etc. is welcomed as well. See y’all next time, then. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second day of school, amazing. Now, what the heck was Charles going to do with Lila's notebook?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so first of all, thank you for the kudos and those few who commented. 
> 
> Second, I will say this once, and only once. The moment Charles transferred to this school, the akumatized villains will mostly be OCs. But I will not focus on that, as this story will be about Charles hating Lila and trying ruin her life for hurting Marinette.
> 
> I was quite surprised at how many people liked this story and wanted more, except grogarion who decided to be immature and ended getting burned by Aishling. For that, I thank you, Aishling, for standing up for my fanfiction and myself. I didn't know how to reply to them. I wanted to, but I wasn't sure if it was worth it, so I just ignored it. Then you just came in and burned them, officially becoming my hero during the few seconds of reading your reply to their comment.
> 
> Okay, with that out of the way, go ahead and read guys and gals.
> 
> * * *
> 
>   
_When a sinister person means to be your enemy,_  
they always start by trying to become your friend.  
-William Blake  


It was the second day since he had transferred to this school. So far, apart from Marinette's problem with the class, everything else was normal. At least, he hoped it was. What one could see on the surface was rarely the full story. Charles didn't like it when a random akuma popped out of nowhere when he was going about his day, for he didn't want to waste his valuable time running and trying to get away from said akuma.

His day started off early. Perhaps a little _too_ early, with him entering the classroom only to find it silent and devoid of any sign of life. It seemed none of his classmates or Marinette had arrived yet, so Charles was left alone with his own thoughts. Dropping his bag on the chair, Charles took his seat next to Marinette’s, whipped out his notebook and began furiously writing away. He had something in mind that needed to be written down pronto so he wouldn’t forget. Charles’s tight grip on the pen was cramping his hand, but he was used to it by now, allowing himself to get completely involved with his writing, on and on. Nothing could stop him from noting everything down when he was caught in the grip of inspiration. Finally, Charles stopped writing. A slight hiss sounded between his teeth as the pain became slightly distracting after a few minutes, massaging a callus on the third finger of his dominant hand with a slight wince. He read through his work slowly, making time for reflection. Even if he had to go over some cringy moments he knew his stupid mind had foolishly spewed. A lot of stuff sounded better inside one’s head sometimes, and this was a good way to tease out the intricate details of his work.

"Good morning!"

It sounded, loud and close to his ear, too close. Charles gave himself an imaginary pat on the back for not jumping right out of his skin at the sudden voice that had rudely interrupted his thoughts. Although he did shoot a murderous glare beneath his lids at the person who tried to kill him by attempting to give him a heart attack. He put down his notebook, twisting his torso slightly to face the person who dared to intrude on his personal space. 

"Don't scare me, please... Honestly, one day, my heart is going to give out and I’ll die from cardiac arrest." That was what came out of his mouth first, shite. 

"I'm sorry! It's just a little tempting..." Fuck, it was Lila. That fake-ass giggle was really pissing him off, especially after what Marinette had told him about Lila yesterday. He had every right to be angry and spiteful, but he couldn't just straight up be mean to her. Oh, no, he had to be subtle. He would weave his trap patiently, like a spider at the center of its web, laying out the trap to lead her into another, stringing his intended victim along until they finally drained dry. Unlike her, he knew how to ruin someone's life from the shadows. He had no qualms about doing so, not with her being the way she was. He wasn’t particularly devout, although he did have a few Christian friends. They always told him to that God would judge punish evildoers up in the Heavenly Kingdom. True. It was up to God to punish them…but sometimes, even the Supreme Being needed a helping hand to get the sinners to get there, no? Did they not also say that ‘God helps those who help themselves’? And Charles, for one, was all too happy to help trash like Lila along. 

He was... not exactly proud to admit that. In the past, Charles had resembled Lila after he and Marinette went their separate ways, too similar for comfort. He’d lied to students in his old school to take advantage of them, manipulating them as the master puppeteer to isolate a fellow student, using the puppets to dance to a tune of his making. He was a spider, he was a puppeteer, he was a musician, and it brought him a kind of sick satisfaction to see his careful machinations flow smoothly along, toppling one after the other as a line of dominoes, and at the end, finally, finally, watch the target fall completely into the abyss of despair. Where he could look down from above, cool and unconcerned, an unrelenting Pied Piper leading them to their end. 

At its core, it was just like what Lila was doing, although she didn’t have the thinking capability required to pull off elaborate schemes like his. Fortunately, it didn't go to the point of suicide. But it was a miracle too since Charles had been destroying his victim's things, lying to their parents about them, manipulating others to ruin his life. When his parents found out what he was doing, only the barest minimum, and not the rest of the severe stuff he did, they made him apologize to the boy and sent him to therapy when they realised there might be something wrong with him, clearly hoping he would see the errors of his way.

Charles wasn’t exactly proud of what he did. In fact, he even found himself capable of feeling sad for his therapist and parents, to admit that he had not changed. The prospect of ruining someone’s life was tempting, oh so very tempting, but he had to rein it in, keep it controlled, until he was sure there would be no consequences from his actions… He’d finally seen firsthand how, if someone exposed his plans prematurely, his life would get a whole lot more difficult than he wanted it to be. But that didn't mean he had to stop his favourite little pastime completely. It only meant that he had to be more careful and more strategic when executing his delicate manipulations and lies. 

Letting out a sigh, Charles forced himself to give the Italian girl a lazy smirk, offering a hand. "Next time, you might just kill me with a single word, y'know? Careful, girl. Anyway, the name's Charles, Charles Durand."

"I'm Lila Rossi…it’s a pleasure to meet you, Charles." When Lila took hold on his hand, he pulled it towards his lips and gave the knuckles a soft kiss. If he could charm her, not only would his plans flow smoothly, it would also add a little spice to boring school life. He chanced a peek from under half-lidded eyes to gauge the girl’s reaction and was rewarded with a blush that tinted her cheeks. Yeah, that would’ve been cute to some, but Lila Rossi blushed so strongly she resembled an overripe tomato. _Overkill much?_ Charles refrained from cackling out loud like a mad person, maintaining his pleasant façade as he relaxed his grasp on her hand. He even managed to coax his features to grant her the charming smile he’d perfected a year ago for this very reason, a sense of glee slowly spreading through him as he watched her go all flustered. If he kept this up, there was no doubt he could get into her good books… and allow his ‘options’ to increase tenfold. 

"The pleasure is all mine, to have the honour of meeting such a beauty. Now, why is a pretty lady like you up here talking to a hooligan like me?" At that, Lila let out a laugh, one that sounded genuine. (Surprise! Fake Barbie Doll can make a real smile! Who would’ve thought, huh? Personally, I figured the wax she’s made of just couldn’t move that way… /pfft/). Charles struggled to restrain the gag reflex welling up in him at the way she fluttered her long ‘mature-style’ eyelashes, knowing that being this charming was going to leave him in a pretty pickle later in the school year. But for now…heh. Thankfully, the disgusting flirtfest was interrupted by the arrival of more classmates s they started filing in one after the other, going to their respective seats. 

Then his attention snapped back to the girl in front of him as the high-pitched voice broke his internal commentary on the potential of each student as a tool in his ‘puppet show’. "Oh, just thought I’d welcome you to the class properly seeing as I have the beeeest relationship with our fellow classmates~ Unlike a certain someone~.” He jabbed his thumb into the crook of his index finger, willing himself to control his breathing, to resist the urge to stab her eyes out. Blissfully oblivious, the annoying chatterbox continued, “I came back to this school from my trip to Achu about a week ago. What about you? Why did you transfer to this school?" 

_Ugh, is she digging for information on me? My background?_ Aside from that, Charles did not- could not- ignore the fact that she sat down next to him, going as far as to touch his shoulder and arm. Clearly, she didn’t think twice about invading others’ personal space. “It’s called _personal_ space, sous-merde!”….was what he’d liked to have spat in her face, but- _Patience, me. Calm down, me. Just imagine her getting torn to shreds by a pack of rabid wolves-_ He barely stopped himself shivering from disgust and general dislike. Lila or not, you don't just go around touch people you just met. And he hated getting touched by people he wasn't close with. In fact, he took it so far as to dislike brief hugs from his parents. Only Marinette had the permission to hug him or basically even touch him; she was the only person whose touch he could bear without cringing away.

But he didn’t pull back from the physical contact and feigned obliviousness to it, letting out a fake sigh of tiredness to rival Lila’s own. "I had, ah…_issues_ at school.” “What issues?” Lila was hanging on to his every word. Just the way a common fishwife at the market would. _The gossip-monger types are essentially the same, aren’t they?_ She leaned ever closer, eager to hear more. _Don’t yet, me. Don’t give her that good slap you know she deserves-_ “I didn't like the students there." Completely true, he’d been _this close _to murdering the entire batch of students in his school. They were uncouth, rude, lacked common sense, ethics, and were utterly immature. Charles hadn't been able bear it, and had to transfer before he committed a massacre. 

Lila pouted prettily at the curt answer, but was agreeably satisfied with the information she’d gotten. Now she started going on and on about her meeting famous people, traveling to exotic dream destinations- “Oh, yes, Paris! The food, the sights, the people- it’s magical!” and having some sort of problems with her body: “I had to have an appendix surgery, so now there’s this little scar on my left rib, so small it’s nearly invisible-“. _Yeah, right. You can’t even get your biology studies right- the human appendix is located on the right, not the left, and I don’t think it’s located that high either. You can’t even be called a liar; who would believe that pile of shit you spew?_ But quite apart from his cynical inner-speech, he knew what she was doing. She was trying to get his sympathy, to amaze him, to pull him to her. _Too bad, sweetie. I’m not as easily swayed as these idiots who think with their ‘special muscle’ instead of their brain._ Charles solidly bore he same interested expression all through the verbal torture, humming and nodding at the right moments to show that he was listening to her. 

What was he doing, truthfully? Well, inside, he was wishing fervently for the bell to ring and the teacher to arrive early. 

Apparently someone Up There was listening to his prayers, because minutes later, Adrien Agreste came in and immediately attracted the poisonous Lila away. He thanked the deities in the sky and even managed to ask them to keep Adrien himself sane enough to last another full day of Lila’s Lousy Lies. Poor kid. Lila was now clinging like a leech to him as she continued talking a mile a minute. _What an appropriate analogy,_ the snark in him spoke up again. _She’s worth less than a parasite, living off others and causing harm to them._

Marinette came in minutes before the bell went, head down, avoiding eye contact with other students, completely ignoring the ‘greetings’ from Lila and dropping to her seat next to Charles' with obvious relief. He felt his blood rushing to his cheeks when she gave him that beautiful, soft smile. While it didn’t radiate with the same undiluted happiness as it did years ago, it was still amazing to see her smiling again. He was in cloud nine the entire time they talked, his own smile so wide, a little painful as he exercised the muscles he hadn’t used in such a long time. They laughed, they joked a little, and Charles even managed to get Marinette all flustered with a few choice teases. 

The piercing shriek of the bell sent everyone scurrying back to their respective seats, the loud discussion toned down to a low murmur as the sound of Miss Bustier’s high heels _click_ed their way down the corridor, each step a warning to her well-trained pupils to keep quiet, and they all prepared themselves for another long day ahead. “Alright, class! Somebody take the attendance, and then open your textbooks at page sixty-two! We’ll need to select a permanent class representative soon, so if you’re interested in those bonus marks in your upcoming exams, I suggest you all work hard to impress us!"

* * *

Charles held Lila's notebook, fingering the cool metal of the hoops along the spine as his eyes gazed vacantly at the orange cover, gears in his mind whirring as he wondered what to do with it.

* * *

Recess. That time when Marinette would slink off to eat her lunch in a quiet corner somewhere while Lila hung out with her blind worshippers at the Table of Supreme Popularity- Nah, Table of Supreme Stupidity.

Anyway. When lunch came by, Lila breezed out of the classroom, white foxfur purse in one hand, her bag’s flap open on her seat. Charles slowed his footsteps, one ear listening closely for sounds of movement in the corridor in case somebody came in while he was…’preparing'. It didn't take long for Charles to steal a few of her things, an example of which was the notebook in his hand. He allowed himself the rare treat of an outward evil grin. It wasn’t often he felt secure enough to show his dark side outwardly, but this just felt too good not to. He’d already stomped on her pens, breaking them while enjoying the sight of the ink splattering across the floor, dark stains on her chair leg where the stray drops had splashed, and strewn the assignment papers due to be handed in tomorrow throughout the classroom. He hadn’t missed the chance to sneak a peek inside the notebook, either, and was glad to know that it was definitely some important things that she wouldn't want to lose.

Which was why he was shredding the notebook into itsy-bitsy pieces and- not throwing the pieces into the dust bin. Instead, he grabbed handful after handful of the stuff, flinging it out the open window, malicious grin still firmly etched into his facial muscles. It would be far worse for Lila to be able to see scraps of her notes but be unable to get anything concrete. Heck, perhaps the wind would scatter them all over the neighbourhood later. Charles had fun destroying her things. The best thing that happened was that he found a necklace: a fox pendant or something similar. 

_You had to ask? /pfft/_ Of course, he broke it, stepping on hit and crushing it beneath his heel with a loud crunching, shattering sound.

No one was there when he did this. And being the careful person he was, he had already checked outside to ensure nobody walking near the classroom would be able to catch him red-handed. Plus, there was no security cameras in the classroom nor outside the classroom, a huge advantage. To cover his tracks further, he wiped the soles of his shoes off on some tissue paper he’d snagged from the toilet before breaking the pens. Now the evidence was gone, too: He scrunched the tissue into an empty snack wrapper in case someone decided to check the dustbin for Lila’s note-scraps, cleverly concealing the tissues. Nobody would want to go poking through a dustbin anyway, and especially not when there was leftover food in it.

Satisfied with his accomplishment, Charles swaggered out of the classroom with that manic grin still plastered on his face. It widened when no one was there to see him walking out of the classroom, so even if Lila tried to find the culprit, there would be no evidence left behind at all. No witnesses, video footages, telltale ink blots, or even fingerprints- he’d wrapped his hands in tissue paper throughout the entire process.

And overall success.

However, his good mood faltered when he turned a corner and saw Marinette on the verge of tears. Charles was by her side in an instant, a hand on her shoulder with worry plaguing his heart for her.

“Mari, what's wrong?” The girl jumped, wiping away the small tears that had fallen. When she didn't reply, Charles gritted his teeth, the flame he felt yesterday coming back, burning at his insides with an intensity thathad his breath echo strangely in his ears. 

“It was Lila.” It wasn't a question, just the answer to why Marinette was about to cry.

She nodded, tremors running through her body. Charles took a few deep breaths, quelling the fire inside him. One of them had to be calm enough to help the other, and him being angry wouldn't get them anywhere. It would only serve to make him more impulsive and do something that might ruin his plan. He knew he couldn’t afford to be reckless right now. 

“Come on, let's eat chips for lunch today. You’ll feel better with fattening comfort food in you, I promise." A small tease that failed to get any reaction from Marinette, and he dropped the lightly joking tone, choosing to guide her gently out of the building and to the park, to the bench where they’d hung out before.

The two student never noticed the akuma that stopped following them, flying over to another person, drawn by the even stronger negative emotions that beckoned enticingly…. right into Miss Bustier's classroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Olivander  
Uuugh, this chapter is still short. I am so sorry. The next chapter would be longer... Maybe, unless I'm creative enough. I'm also sorry if the way I write is so bland, English is my second language and my brain tends to fuck up my grammar.
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated, thank you for reading today's chapter.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Scarcasm  
Yeah, it's me again. What should I put in the Notes section....hmm....  
Oh, right.  
Let me just echo my partner's comment above and.... "Gimme your Kudos." /extorts while waving as-yet-unreleased chapter/


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette fights Lila once more. After school, she and Charles have a heart to heart moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've motivated YEEHAW! Also, I'm not good at writing fight scenes, my writing skill is not at that level yet. So don't expect to find the fight scenes.
> 
> * * *
> 
> _The best thing to hold onto in life is each other._  

> 
> -Audrey Hepburn

While Charles and Marinette were about a few distances away from the school building, they heard screams coming from their school. She stiffened and turned around, ready to run inside to find a restroom to transform, but remembered that Charles was still here. She couldn't go now, it would only worry and make her old friend suspicious of her.

The pull of her hand made her turn her head, looking back at Charles. He didn't seem worried or nervous from the screaming, he wasn't bothered by the looks of it. It made Marinette confused since normally citizens would be screaming and running for their lives when some got akumatized again. He had a scary glint in his eyes that said he knew something she didn't, which gave her chills running through her spine. Was he hinting that he knew she was ladybug?

Marinette had no time to dwell on it anymore as the side of the school building where her classroom was blown up, creating a big hole. It was Lila— definitely Lila, but she wasn't Volpina or Chameleon this time. Was that a hammer she was holding?

"I AM RAVAGEUR AND I SHALL DESTROY MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG FOR DESTROYING _MY_ BELONGINGS!" Marinette's eyes widened in confusion. She didn't remember touching Lila's belongings, hell, she was the first to get out of class when Charles was still copying the notes. And when she was going to the restroom, Lila had been there to threaten her again and bully her to tears when no one was watching. She must've thought that after she threatened her, she had gone into the classroom to destroy her things.

"Mari, let's go!" She squeaked when Charles suddenly pulled her to his chest, both of them falling to the ground and had almost gotten hit by Lila's hammer. Marinette quickly got up with him, dodging another blow that was directed to her. Both of them ran as quick as possible, with Charles trying to keep up with Marinette, but he kept stumbling from each blows Lila directed to Marinette, only to hit the ground, which created holes and cracks all over the ground. The bystanders were screaming and getting out of their way, the majority of them falling after Lila had hit the ground times after times of trying to hit Marinette.

Marinette felt her panic bubbling up in her chest, wondering where Chat Noir was. Not like she could scold him for being late, she was not doing great herself. She needed to go hide so that she could transform without anyone seeing her, but Lila would be persistent on following her, so she needed a distraction. Anything!

Which was not supposed to be Charles.

"Lila, stop!" Marinette halted in her track and turned around, horrified that Charles was struggling with pulling Lila way from her with a surprising show of strength. Lila was screaming and yelling at Charles to let go, that she didn't want to hurt him and only Marinette. The snarl coming from him was even more unexpected, she had never seen him like this before. He raised his arm and hit Lila at the back of her neck with the side of his hand. While Lila didn't stop moving, she did scream in pain when he threw a hit at her nose with a loud crack that followed.

"Marinette, go now while she's distracted!" She didn't need to think twice before running to a dark alley, hoping that Chat Noir would be there quickly so that Charles wouldn't deal with an angry Lila any longer.

Once she was in an alleyway with no one in sight, Tikki flew out of her purse and floated in front of her. "Wow, your friend cares a lot about you if he was willing to risk getting hurt to let you run away!"

Marinette felt something fluttering in her chest, her heart rate speeding up as her mind replayed the moment in her head like a video on loop. While she was completely grateful of him, she didn't quite agree on hurting anyone, not even Lila in her worse days. But, she let it pass since he was obviously trying to help her. Violence had always been a constant thing when they were younger. Whenever the other children tried to tease or hurt Marinette emotionally in some way, Charles would start a fight with them on her behalf. Sometimes, he wouldn't do it if she told him not to. However, the next day, the children that messed with her would have their belongings destroyed or just running away from Charles in general.

She wasn't stupid, she knew Charles had something to do with it. She just hoped that after two years of separation, Charles had changed and mellowed out a little. Him not going up to Lila may be a sign that he doesn't hurt others anymore, so that was a huge relief on her part. Marinette wouldn't want him to get in trouble, just like the old times.

"Yeah... He's protective like that. Come on, we have a job to do. Tikki, spots on!"

* * *

"Pound it!"

Ladybug and Chat Noir fist-bumped once again, a smile on their faces. Defeating Hawkmoth may be tiring, but it was worth protecting her beloved city. She glanced at Lila slightly, watching Charles helping the Italian girl up. 

"What... happened?" Her confusion was shown on Lila's face as she took a look around the park they're at.

"You were akumatized, what was the last thing that you remembered?" Charles asked, giving her a soft smile. Marinette noticed the redness in Lila's cheeks and refrained from choking when she realized Lila might like her _best friend_.

"Well... When I... I realized I forgot my bag so I went back to class with Alya and... The things inside my bag were destroyed and broken. My pens were broken on the floor, my papers were everywhere, and my notebook was in the dust bin. What's worst, the necklace my grandmother was broken!" Charles' eyes widened, his hand fell onto Lila's shoulder as she had tears falling. His smile immediately turned into a frown, glancing at the school building.

"Don't worry, we'll find the person who ruined your belongings." That kindness in his voice was so genuine, so real, but Marinette was confused. Hadn't she told him about Lila being a liar and how she had started being mean to her and turning the class against her. She knew that he wasn't the type of friend to easily throw another friend away, after all, the anger he showed back there during his first day here was so strong, she even knew that he would get slightly protective of her again. Luckily enough, Marinette noticed and calmed him down, making the akuma stop and fly away.

The beeping in hers and Chat Noir's miraculous caught the heroes attention. Chat too had been watching and listening, distracted by what Lila had recalled before she was akumatized. 

"Ah, we have to go now Chat."

"I can see that M'lady, you were _purr_fect as ever."

"Ugh, _Chaaaat_."

Both of them went silent before laughing. Marinette gave Chat a wave, watching him jump off before doing the same too, but her mind was currently circling around her friend and what his intention with Lila may be.

* * *

"Marinette! Are you alright?" She yelped when she was tackled by Charles', holding onto his hug so that she didn't fall. Letting out a giggle, Marinette hugged him back and patted his back, pulling away slightly to look at him.

"I'm okay, but _I _should be the one asking you that. After all, you did face Ravegeur so that I could run away. And... well... thank you for that." Out of habit, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. When Charles' face turned as red as Nathaniel's hair, she laughed out loud and pinched his cheeks. 

"Next time, don't risk your safety that way for me." The taller boy just gave her a mischievous smile, then suddenly scooped her up into his arms bridal style, spinning around with her. 

"No can do princess! I'm your knight so I'm supposed to be protecting you, you'll never stop me from doing so!"

"CHARLES PUT ME DOWN AND STOP SPINNING!"

"NEVER!"

Lila watched them, the green monster rising and covering her heart. She sneered at the sickeningly sweet scene in front of her, wishing that it washer in Charles' arms and not that bitch Marinette. Her fists clenched tightly, her teeth grinding together. The Italian girl turned her heels and walked back to the school, hoping that the 'Miraculous Ladybug' had fixed her belongings.

When she had found Alya, both of them quickly went to class to see if the damage was undone. Sadly, it wasn't. Her papers were still thrown around in the floor, her pens broken, her notebook ripped into pieces and laying in the dust bin. Her necklace... the fox necklace was still broken. Lila started to fake her crying, even if inside she was actually angry more than sad. When her classmates came back, they helped pick up her papers that were scattered everywhere. Meanwhile, Lila was telling Alya that she wasn't sure who could've done this, but she suspected it was Marinette.

Even though it might not be the girl, this was the perfect situation to put the blame on her. After all, what better way to fuel their dislike of Marinette by lying that she might be the one to destroy her stuff. Lila had been able to convince them a lot of the things that Marinette had never done before, why would it be different now? Alya, being the obvious fool she was, started raging on how Marinette was taking things too far just because she was jealous of Lila.

Gosh, these guys were so easy to lie and manipulate.

Hiding a smirk behind her hands, she felt like she could finally win this war against that stupid girl. Once she had ruined Marinette, she'll take her best friend right in front of her and make him hers.

The moment Lila had met Charles, she knew that she wanted him. He was charming, handsome, polite and possibly well-off with the clothes she had seen him wear. And while she still wanted Adrien to be her boyfriend, it wouldn't hurt to take Charles too. The fact that he and Marinette were seen to be close and sickeningly sweet with each other disgusted her. There was no way in hell Marinette was going to have Charles. 

She can't wait to see Marinette fall once she realized her 'best friend' had left her for her enemy. 

* * *

"Alright, spill."

"Spill what?"

"Don't act like you don't know. I know you Char, and I know you're up to something if you're this nice to Lila."

Marinette stood in front of him with her arms crossed and a stern expression present on her face. She didn't waver when Charles blinked at her innocently, already used to that look when they were younger. It further her suspicion of him, now sure that he was up to something. But just like Marinette, Charles was stubborn and wouldn't budge, always grinning and dodging the questions by saying random things and weird facts.

School was finished and they were currently at her home, more specifically, her room. Her parents had been ecstatic when they saw Charles for the first time after two years. Tom gave him a big hug and Sabine gave him kisses on the cheeks, making him blush and Marinette giggle at the rare sight of Charles being awkward and clumsy around them. They had shooed them upstairs after the greetings and pleasantries were over, giving the two childhood friends space to hang out.

"Oh my, you have a lot things related to Adrien, that's weird." 

"Don't dodge the questions!"

"Am I? I'm sorry, the wrackspurts are messing with my brain whenever you try to ask." Ugh, if he could only stop giving her that roguish grin of his, then she could keep being mad at him.

Marinette sighed and officially gave up, taking a seat on her chair. Charles' followed her lead and sit on the floor, looking around her room in interest. "Your room hadn't changed... well, you have for stuff here and a few furniture is gone or moved, but overall... it's still the same." She looked at him for a moment, eyes softening at the excitement shown in his blue-grey eyes. It was as if he was 11 again, taking in her room first because he couldn't get enough of the simple beauty and warmth that he got from this room.

She remembered when they were about 10, sitting on the floor and planning to prank their friends and teachers. They had so many papers lying around, but the prank had been worth it. The laughs and congratulations from their friends made it worth it. The time spent with Charles' had been worth it. Although, their parents hadn't been amused, they only grounded them for a few weeks, only because their prank had been very impressive when they had given their planning papers. God, she missed those times.

A sniff brought her attention back to reality again, she faced him incredulously. "Are you crying?" He tensed a little before relaxing. Marinette could see a few of his tears falling before being wiped away.

"Yeah... It's just..." Charles looked like he was a few seconds away from bawling his eyes out, "I missed you... I missed your parents and when we were younger. Sitting in your room again after two years, it's just so nostalgic..." She noted how his voice seemed to crack a little right before he cleared his throat.

This was one of the few moments when Charles would show how emotional he could be, even if it's as simple as to visiting her house again. While he didn't open up to others a lot, the closest person he had always been with was her. She had seen him in his worst moments, even if it was rarely. She had seen him getting angry and violent, kicking and destroying his own things because of his uncontrolled anger. She had seen him cry when the pressure from his parents had been too much for him to handle, breaking down in her room as she stayed by his side, silent but comforting. Marinette knew that he had never been emotional around people, he told her this himself. He was always bottling up his negative emotions whenever his parents were making him upset, or when their friends had wronged them in some way.

At 12, when his parents told him they were moving because of his stepmother's job for a few years, so Charles had to change school because her work were too far for them to be able to send him to her school. After they broke the news to him and Marinette, Charles raged in her room, and even in his rage, he was careful not to accidentally break something. Weeks later, they were saying goodbyes to each other as he and his parents boarded the place. Not before Charles promising her that he'll come back to be with her again.

Now that he was back, they had the entire evening for themselves. To reconnect again and learn what they've been doing for the past two years.

Marinette got off the chair and sat on the floor next to Charles, then hugging him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I miss you, _mon vieil ami_." She whispered, a smile gracing her face. She could feel an arm wrapped around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. She didn't mind the chin resting on her head, or the small kiss he left.

"I miss you too, _mon ange._"

Both of them sat on the floor, holding together and never letting go, savouring the special moment they're having. It wasn't until Marinette's called them down to eat. Both were reluctant to let go, so they held hands. It stayed that way for the rest of the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I didn't expect I'll write the ending of today's chapter that way, but I like it nonetheless. Thank you for reading this chapter and expect more to come in the future. I think I might complete this fanfiction, I'm hooked and want to write more. Not only for my amusement, but also for ya'll to read! 
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien'd opinion on Charles and how disturbed he felt whenever he was around Charles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am overwhelmed. My fanfic had never gotten so much kudos or comment before. I thank all of you for the support!
> 
> My final is just a week away, so I need to start revising. I might not update for a while, but I promise ya'll that I'll update as soon as my finals are done.

Adrien's first thought of Charles Durand was that he was close with Marinette. Very close. He had seen them at the park, after all, hugging. He was comforting Marinette in his arms, then kissed her on the head when he was done.

It got a strange reaction from Adrien, with his chest tightening and his stomach churning at the sight. And it continued after days passed by with Charles fitting in with the class, befriending Lila and scolding Marinette from time to time whenever Lila blamed Marinette for something. But at the moment they thought no one was listening or watching, Charles would hug her and apologize for scolding her, never giving her a reason as to _why _he pretended to be disappointed in her in front of her classmates.

Adrien had always been watching them, interested in their friendship and the complex boy called Charles. He was a... charming person, that's for sure. He got the majority of the class to fall for his friendly charm, easily breezing into being their friends and just generally fitting in. Everyone liked him, that's for sure.

But... He couldn't help but feel like something's amiss, like something's missing. Whenever Charles flashed a smile at them, Adrien felt like there was something wrong about it, like there's something sinister behind that cheerful and friendly facade of his new classmate, like it's _fake_. Especially when said smile was directed to him, it never failed to give him the chills. Plagg didn't have an opinion of him, however. So it was only him who was disturbed.

Interestingly enough, this sinister feeling Adrien felt around Charles would mellow the moment Marinette was around to talk. The grey-eyed boy always had a fond expression on his face whenever he had a conversation with Marinette, his laughs and chuckles more real than the ones when he was around their other classmates.

Adrien wasn't sure whether or not Charles was good or bad news. After he had transferred to their school, Marinette had been happier, smiling back once more and even laughing. The taunts from their classmates didn't seem to bother her either, it was like she was starting to come back and didn't care for the opinions of the other.

Sadly, Lila had ruined this progress by saying that Marinette had hurt her by bumping into her really hard. Adrien had just been coming back to the restroom, so you could tell that he had been surprised when the class was yelling at Marinette and saying cruel things about her. When he was about to intervene, Charles took a step further than him.

"Enough."

The calm yet loud word had cut through the noises of their classmates, causing them to look at him. Charles had his hands on Marinette's shoulders, but Adrien had caught the stiffness in his shoulders and how his grip tightened ever so slightly. While his face was set in a poker expression, his eyes betrayed him, showing nothing but disgust and surprisingly, contempt. His classmates, however, didn't see the raw emotions shown in his eyes. Rather, they were taken back that the sharp tone.

"I will let you scold her, reprimand her and tell her not to do it anymore. But this is not an excuse to kill Marinette with your words at every single mistake she had done." Cue the wince from his classmates at the clearly disappointed tone in his voice.

"What if it was an accident and that she didn't mean to do this? What if she didn't realized she had accidentally hurt Lila because she was distracted by something? What makes you _think _you have the right to bully her just by a single mistake. You could've told her to apologize and everything will be solved. But _no_—"

Everyone, even Adrien and Marinette, flinched.

"—You decided to say those _disgusting_ things about her and bully her mercilessly without a single thought of what the consequences are once you are done with her. You didn't care about how she _felt_ in this situation. And spare me the details of your reasoning, it will never be the excuse to bully a classmate. All I can say is, I am disappointed in all of you, the ones I had taken to call my _friends_."

Everyone's head hung low, Adrien just stared at Charles, stunned at the calm and direct scolding he gave to the class yet still pull off to be stern and somewhat scary. Charles seemed to face towards Lila, his face flashing into something before settling into a soft reassuring smile, "Don't worry Lila, I know you're not the one that made them disgusting this way. If what you said is true, then I will set Marinette straight and let her know not to hurt you again and make her apologize to you."

Adrien turned his head towards Lila, watching her face morph into a red mess before stammering a thank you to Charles. The boy merely gave her that _stupid warm smile_ before pushed Marinette gently out of the classroom, taking their bags with them. The bell rang and it was now lunchtime, but no one talked. There were only the rustling bags, the wind blowing, papers shuffled and the chatter from the outside.

Without a second thought, he rushed to follow the two childhood friends. Hoping that Marinette would be alright.

* * *

Adrien hid behind a tree as he watches Charles and Marinette. Plagg flew out of his jacket, watching them too. 

"Wow, that guy is pretty scary when someone is bullying his princess."

The boy gave the kwami a look, letting out a sigh and looking away as Marinette smiled and hugged Charles, the same tightening of his chest and his stomach churning coming back. 

"He sure is... Plagg, I think he's hiding something—"

"Uuugh, Adrien, we've been over this already!"

"I know! But don't you feel like something is wrong whenever we're around Charles? It's almost as if everything about him was just a facade to hide something, to trick us, just like Lila did to the others."

Plagg stayed silent for a moment, making Adrien look at him curiously. "There is! Isn't there?"

When his kwami didn't say anything, he got a little worried and look at Charles and Marinette once again, both of them laughing about something. Jokes possibly?

"There's something... strange that I can slightly sense in him, something dark and violent. I think not just mentally, but soul wise. But don't take my word on this one, I'm not really good with sensing auras like Ladybug's kwami is."

Adrien snapped his head at his kwami, almost cracking his neck in the process. He wanted to ask, but he didn't have the voice to do so. What did that mean? Did it meant that his hunch was correct and there was something wrong with Charles? Was there really something sinister lurking in his classmate's mind that even Plagg sounded slightly sombre to say it? What did he mean by soul wise? 

He wanted to ask, but the ring in his phone caught his attention. Adrien turned it on and paled at the text message he received. He had all but forgotten about his ride back home! At least he didn't have anything scheduled for today, lucky him.

Quickly getting up in his two feet, Plagg went back into his jacket. He shot away from the park and back to the school where his car was, hoping that he could get away with being late again.

Hopping into the car, he apologized to his bodyguard and leaned against the window, paying no mind when they started to move. Adrien's mind was full of questions, most of them concerning Charles and what Plagg had told him about the boy. Something dark and violent? Soul wise? Even by those words, Adrien could sense the slight seriousness Plagg had adopted in his tone when he said that.

Curious and scary. Adrien hoped that whatever it was, it wouldn't make Charles hurt Marinette. She already had enough with his classmates and Lila, there's no way she would handle getting hurt by his best friend.

Maybe he can learn more about Marinette's childhood friend if he visited her as Chat Noir! 

To his princess's palace it was then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I'm not sure where I'm going with this. But I like it and no one can stop me from making this worst :D  
I apologize if Adrien and Plagg seemed OOC in this, I'm not good with writing canon characters. And kwamis sensing auras and souls? I'm going with it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir visits Marinette, got surprised in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One sleepless night wouldn't hurt, right? :)
> 
> Update at 2 a.m.: Apparently it would. I just read a fanfiction where Adrien and Marinette got kidnapped and tortured. I am officially traumatised once again.
> 
> Update at 4 a.m.: I read another fanfiction and it had some paedophilia themes in it. I am traumatised once more, thank you for reading. Enjoy :)

The visit to Marinette's during the night had been eventful, to say the least.

When Chat Noir knocked on the hatch door and waited for Marinette to answer, he could hear some talking and another familiar voice other than Mari's. It was a male by the sound of it.

The hatch door was opened, showing an annoyed Marinette who was trying to hide the fondness in her eyes. "Bonne nuit, kitty, what are you doing here?"

Chat grinned mischievously, flipping his hair flamboyantly. "Why, it sounded like you don't want my _purr_fect self here, princess?" Marinette let out a sigh, moving away and gesturing him to come in. He climbed through, landing on the bed and slipping off to the floor.

"Wait— Marinette, I didn't know you were friends with one of the superheroes of Paris!" At the sound of the male voice, Chat looked up to see Charles Durand staring at him with his mouth agape.

"Whoops, it slipped from my mind, sorry." The giggle that came out from the girl's mouth was so cute and adorable.

"Not funny Mari!"

Chat Noir took the time to assess Charles, finally getting a closeup view. He didn't act like that polite student that was shown around everyone, the student that acted like politeness was the only thing he knew and nothing more. He seemed so... human now, showing a lot of emotions that Adrien had never seen him expressed. Charles was even more expressive in private. The boy was currently wearing his PJs (he thinks it is), a black and green polka dot T-shirt and black pants. His black hair was an absolute mess, a contrast to his usually neatly combed hair.

"And who might this be, princess? I didn't know you had a boyfriend," he said teasingly, ignoring the pang in his chest when he said that. Adrien watched as both of them turned bright red, with Marinette denying vehemently at that thought and Charles just looking at him as if his opinion of him had changed. He didn't look at him with distaste at all, only respect and... adoration?

Charles had suddenly stood up, startling both he and Marinette. "Holy shit, Chat Noir is in this very room! Right in front of me, in the flesh! One of the superheroes in Paris is visiting Marinette and I met him! He's talking to Marinette as if they were friends, I didn't know that and now I met him Oh god he's gonna think I'm weird oh lord, oh lord oh Jesus Christ he thought I was Mari's boyfriend oh my god—"

Huh, Charles was a fan, who knew.

Great, now he's hyperventilating— wait, was that tears he saw?

"Charles calm down! You're hyperventilating and crying!"

"Yeah, you need to _paws _for a minute to breathe, you're getting a little _hiss_terical and that would be a _paw_blem." Charles stopped and breathed, then blinked slightly and gave Chat Noir a stare that made the cat superhero squirm.

"Did you just— Marinette, did he—"

"Yes he did, Charles."

For a moment, it was just an uncomfortable silence. Slowly but surely, Charles's mouth formed a smile, his the corner of his eyes crinkling as he let out a quiet laugh. Marinette and Chat let out a sigh of relief, the girl was glad that her childhood friend didn't cry from getting overwhelmed and Chat Noir glad that he wouldn't need to feel guilty if Carles started crying. 

It was interesting to hear Charles laugh, to even see him expressing more emotions than he did during day time. Adrien had never expected him to be a Chat Noir fan at all, or even emotional enough to hyperventilate and cry. Now _that _was unexpected. He always thought Charles was those types of people who didn't cry easily, but it seemed like he was proven wrong, just by visiting for the first time when Charles was with Marinette.

"I think I've found my soulmate." Chat Noir's eyes widened, watching as Charles turned as red as Nathaniel's hair, slapping a hand over his mouth while he crouched and laid on the floor. His attempts to get swallowed by the floor was futile. Marinette was just wheezing and laughing in the background, sitting on her chair but eventually falling to the floor for laughing too hard.

The next few minutes were spent with Adrien just standing there looking like he just heard his father say something that was so unlike him, Charles dying from embarrassment on the floor and Marinette laughing at the mess that was Charles's doing.

* * *

Everything calmed down after they tired themselves out. Charles was still laying on the floor, but with a pink pillow cuddled to his chest as he pouted at the unfairness of life. Marinette was pleased to know that she was not the only person who struggled to talk with people that she liked. Charles had explained that he had taken an interest (not romantically) in Chat Noir and had always dreamed of being his friend. Chat had just grinned and slung an arm around his shoulder, teasing him that they could be soulmates if that was what he wanted.

The poor cat had only gotten one of Charles unimpressed stare that was able to make even his parents inferior under his gaze. Marinette had seen him using that gaze on his parents and from that moment, she had always wished to have that ability, simply so she could make people like Chloe or Lila cower. It was one of the things Marinette admired about her childhood friend.

"So you just came back because you didn't like the students in your school?" Adrien raised a brow. Charles shrugged and pried Chat's arm from his shoulder, grunting a little when it was back again after a few seconds.

"Mhm, they're pretty stupid and undoubtedly mean. Just imagine students with Chloe's personality, who I heard was mean towards everyone and acted like she owned everything?" Both Chat and Marinette scrunched their nose, feeling sympathetic for Charles.

"No wonder you had to leave, I can't imagine dealing with students who were like Chloe." Marinette patted Charles's head, retracting her hand and drinking the tea she had made before the conversation. Chat nodded in agreement, looking at Charles curiously. "Did they cause you any trouble?"

"Nah, I was invisible most of the time. I earned their respect during the first year I have arrived at the school. It was amusing though, to watch everyone arguing about the useless things. A book here and some seats, fighting over crushes and threatening each other with their parents' elite positions."

All three of them laughed. Chat Noir couldn't help but feel content with hanging out with the two of them. Tonight was definitely an unusual but welcomed surprise. Charles and Marinette were so easy to talk to, was this how friends acted around each other? If so, then Adrien was glad that he could get to know them a little more, especially Charles. Whatever negative opinions Adrien had formed about Charles instantly disappeared, seeing that Charles was just another normal boy.

The conversation continued on smoothly. They discussed a lot of things, school, favourite food, movies, books, anything they could talk about. At one point, Chat had asked why Charles was n Mari's room in the first place.

"Oh, I'm planning on staying at her home for a few days until my parents called me back home, like the old days, right Mari?" She nodded in agreement and both of them said nothing more, but he suspected that there might be more to it than that simple answer. He didn't budge, however since he didn't want to make Charles uncomfortable.

By now, it was already three in the morning, his ring had startled them when he and Mari were playing the staring contest. Chat looked at his ring and saw that he didn't have much time left, so he gave the two a 'got to go' and jumped out. When he had come back home and landed in his bedroom, he detransformed just in time. 

Adrien flopped onto his bed, letting out a quiet laugh of joy. Talking with Marinette and Charles had been so much fun! From now on, he was going to visit them more during his patrol. Maybe... maybe he could befriend Charles as his civilian self too. That way, all of them could hang out during the day time. 

Both of them, Charles and Chat, had promised to protect their princess, which was Marinette. They decided that they would be her knights and will protect her from everyone that tried to hurt her! Charles went as far as to swear that he'll kill anyone who threatened Mari in any shape or form. They laughed at how serious he looked while doing so, finding his joke amusing.

Honestly, Adrien could get used to this interesting development. He just hoped that Charles wouldn't be too closed off tomorrow, it would be hard talking to him if didn't express himself a lot. It would definitely weird him out when Charles wasn't acting like he did tonight, he just got so used to Charles laughing and being generally weird at random point of time.

And... Marinette, well, he had a feeling that something between them might happen. He already acknowledged the fact that he got jealous whenever she laughed at Charles's attempts to make bad jokes, that might be a sign that he liked her.

But... he already had his heart for his Lady, was this normal? Liking two people at the same time? He liked Ladybug because she was confident, beautiful, determined and all the other compliments he could use to describe his lady. Marinette however, he liked her for her kindness. She always helped people who needed them, and when she's not stuttering around him, she would resemble so much like Ladybug, standing up against rude and mean people who were bullying others. Her clumsiness was also cute, the way she stutters too... Don't get him started on her eyes, they were so expressive... like Ladybug—

"I want camembert!" 

"Plagg......"

"Nooooow, I'm hungry!"

Adrien groaned and buried his head in his pillow. "You know where it is, go take it yourself." He ignored the harrumph and decided to sleep now. His father would kill him if he was late for school. No doubt he would be very tired though. Maybe Charles and Marinette too, since all three of them were the ones who stayed up pretty late.

The blond finally let himself relax and fall into the arms of Morpheus, letting it pull him into a dream filled with Marinette and Ladybug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'm finally done with this chapter. I apologize if this seemed very short and rushed, I needed to get this chapter done and out of my mind. My finals start tomorrow, so excuse me for not updating next week. However, once it's done, I will finally continue on this without any problems. 
> 
> You don't like, don't comment, I don't give a shit if you hate how I wrote the characters or how I write the story. I'm trying to improve and I myself don't like how dull my writing is. If you did comment your hate, I will delete it cause I don't need negativity in my comment sections. However, I desperately need constructive criticism. I don't know how to improve and I need advice ;(
> 
> If there's any incorrect spelling or grammar, tell me and I will fix it. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated, I love ya'll, cya in the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exams are finished, I finally have the time to focus on my hobbies and this story. Yay me! And a friend shall be the co-creator too, say hello to @Scarcasm everyone!
> 
> Enjoy this new chapter :)
> 
> -Partially edited-Scar-

_Plan 'Ruin Lila's Life'_

_The reason why you're doing this: She is hurting Marinette._

_1\. Befriend her and everyone who is currently friends with her._

_2\. Be careful; hide true intentions well._

_3\. Put up the same facade like back in the old school._

_4\. Rise up into her best friend rank, into that inner circle of trusted ones. Maybe, just maybe, make her like me. If she has a crush on me, I'll use it to my advantage, but never become her boyfriend. It's disgusting._

_5\. Take the plan slowly. Remember- Festina Lente. Destroy her things first, but take all precaution not to get caught. When I know her better, ask for her number. Stalk any social media she's on, but don't follow her. Wipe any traces of internet tracks from gadget/use a public-access point._

_6\. Find a way to get her phone. Message cruel things to your classmates and wipe the screen after use._

_7\. Send her things anonymously. Always use gloves. Give her the worst cupcake ever. Give her very **spicy** food._

_8\. Send her cruel letters—_

* * *

_DING!_

Charles halted in his writing, taking a look at his phone curiously.

_💗Mari💗: I'm bored. Wanna go get ice cream?_

A grin formed on his face, his breathing got easier. His right hand snatched his phone. Typing a quick _yes_, Charles placed his phone back on his desk and stood up, going over to his closet to change.

Agonizing for a while, he finally picked out a black turtleneck shirt and paired it with green cargo pants, combing his brown hair back so that he didn't look like he'd just got out of bed. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, Charles focused on his face, his grin fading slowly as he took a second to think.

Lila had been very annoying this week. She had started to cling to him whenever Adrien was not around. Normally, Charles wouldn't have minded, as it was a part of his master plan anyway, but he couldn't help but feel agitated when she hugged his arm, glaring at Marinette whenever she wanted to talk to him. What a hogger. Ugh. She was worse than a leech, and just as parasitic. It had escalated to the point where Charles had almost slapped Lila for insulting Marinette. Thankfully, he had managed to reason with himself not to do it, instead chastising Lila gently for insulting Marinette.

The apology she'd given him didn't make him feel better. In fact, it only made him angrier. What was the point of an apology if it was simply an insincere lie?

The mirror fogged before him as Charles let out a heavy sigh before turning away. He approached his desk once more and hid the tiny slip of paper inside a dark blue folder, which was in turn stuffed in a cabinet filled with a chaotic rainbow of other multicoloured files. It paid to be paranoid this way; some of his 'friends' used to go through his stuff and had inadvertently discovered a paper that contained his plan to prank everyone. They'd exposed him at school. Fools.

They were never invited to his home ever again.

Taking his phone in his hands again, Charles's quick fingers typed a question and sent it.

_The Knight: I'm picking you up. Are you ready?_

_💗Mari💗: I'm gonna be once you arrive, so get a move on._

His hundred-watt grin came back once again. Putting his phone inside his pockets, he got out of his room and closed the door to his room. Walking downstairs, Charles went to the kitchen to get a can of soda.

"Going somewhere?" Charles flinched in surprise and swirled around, facing the taller man in front of him.

His father was leaning against the wall, drinking his own drink. The smell of Kronenbourg made Charles recoil from it. He never liked the smell or taste of wine or any alcoholic stuff at all. Quite frankly, whiskey felt like bitter fire tumbling down his throat. So no, he'd avoided the stuff since then.

"Going to get ice cream with Mari, we might go see the movies or somethin'." Charles continued his search for his soda, which had been finished by a suspicious someone.

"Hey, did mom take the last can again?"

"Yeah, I saw her drinking it when she went out with her friends." Charles cursed, closing the fridge and stood straighter, turning fully towards his dad. 

His father was a good-looking fellow. Pale skin, neat dark hair. His face was manlier than Charless' could ever be. He was wearing a T-shirt and some khaki shorts, so Charles concluded that he must be staying home today.

"Well, no soda for me then. I'm gonna go to Mari's house, so uh... See ya later, dad." Charles shuffled out of the kitchen and grabbed his keys, unlocking the door. Stepping out of his house, Charles strolled to Marinette's house, which was only a few minutes away from his. 

The weather outside was quite nice today. Blue skies, with a few white clouds here and there. It wasn't too hot, which Charles was grateful for. He didn't know if he could stand the heat right now. With the good weather and the nice peaceful walk he was on, his mind started to wander... 

...far into thoughts that were all about a certain pig-tailed girl.

Her bluebell eyes that would usually shine brightly with pure happiness, the way her lip would curve upward, forming a beautiful smile that always made his heart beat a little faster. Whatever her outfit would be, it would undoubtedly make her cuter than he could actually handle. Her kindness that extended towards anyone and everyone, the trust and loyalty she gave to people that were very close to her. Supposedly intangible things, but they morphed into a magnetic force that seemed to draw people to her as bees to honey.

The more Charles thought about her, the more he realized how deeply in love hew was with the pigtailed girl who had been his only close friend ever since they were five.

A sudden force— a person most likely, had taken him by surprise by crashing into him. Charles let out a yelp, landing on his butt with a string of curses pouring from his mouth. Even a sailor would be proud, for the palm of his hands had hit the floor rather hard, now stinging in slight pain.

Charles could only grimace as he restrained a groan, instead, focusing on the girl in front of him. She was frantically apologizing in a fast language that he couldn’t understand. Wait no, he _ did _understand what she was saying.

“Mademoiselle, _ there is no need to be so worried. I’m alright.” _Charles said in English, efficiently stopping her from talking a mile a minute. He took her hand, pulling himself up with it as she hauled him up. 

“_Oh god, I’m so _sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going!” He could only chuckle at the apology, she reminded him of Marinette whenever she did something wrong, or whenever her clumsiness showed.

Getting a good look at her now that he was standing, Charles noted that the girl in front of him was definitely shorter than him, with brown bushy hair and black eyes. However, the more he looked at her, the more he felt something similar akin to familiarity towards the girl.

The girl in question had taken a good look on him too and had turned as white as a sheet. Her mouth slowly opened and closed, the expression on her face showed that she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Well, more like _who_. 

“Cha— Charles…?” She whispered, horror coating the tone of her voice.

At the mention of his name, Charles let out a surprised ‘huh’ when he finally realized why she looked so familiar. 

This was Nicolette, a classmate back when he was in his old school.

_ “Hey, Charcoal!” ‘Charcoal’ groaned loudly, lowering his head slightly as if it would help hide him away from the devil incarnate, Nicolette Brissette. _

_ The guys that surrounded him were chuckling at his misfortune. He gave them a glare, smoothing his face seconds after when he felt Nicolette walking beside him, skipping slightly in her steps as she did so. _

_ “So… I heard from a little birdie that you were going to have a game competition at your house?” Nicole asked, her infectious grin and reminder making the other guys cheer once again, for the second time of the day, mind you. The first was when Charles had broken the news to them. _

_ Charles could only smile to hide his annoyance with Nicole. “Yup, and you don’t need to ask if you can join. You’re always invited to my home, remember?” _

_ The feelings that Nicole felt for the boy increased ten-fold, making her smile even wider. _

_ “Thanks, Char!”_

_ He raised a brow at the sight of Nicole breaking down in front of him, his lips curving into a sinister smirk. The paper that the girl had swished around had fallen on the ground, lying there innocently, as if it didn’t show the harsh truth of who Nicolette had been truly dealing with. _

_ “Your… Your not g-going to get away w-with this!” She hiccuped, pointing at him and giving him a glare through her tears. _

_ The smirk turned into a full-blown smile that showed way too many of his sharp razor teeth. Charles let out his restrained laughter, making the girl shiver at the eerie sound that shouldn’t be made from a handsome boy in front of her. This wasn’t the same boy who plastered on a smile and complimented everyone, being ‘ _ ** _genuinely_ ** _ ’ nice, as some girls would say about him. This was a different Charles entirely. This was the true boy behind that nice facade of his, the boy that was outwardly amused by her being distraught and sad. _

_ "Oh, but I already have." _

_ Nicolette stared at everyone, tears in her eyes as she endured all the name-calling and insults thrown her way. Her back was hunched, her hands shoved deep into her pockets. Her back was turned towards the crowd of students that had gathered to ‘ _ ** _teach her a lesson for being an absolute jerk to Charles’._**

_ In the distance, she could see Charles watching from the second floor. He clearly smiling from what Nicole could see, it wasn’t that hard to know that he was enjoying the drama unfold. Watching her reputation getting ruined and turning everyone against her. And Maya...There was nothing left. Not for her, not anymore._

_ With a heavy heart and a growing empty hole that appeared in her chest, Nicolette turned away from the smirking boy, letting her tears fall as she walked away from the cruel students. The same students she'd spent so many years with....turned away from her so easily by a single 'gentle' boy._

_ She never came back. _

Blinking back to the present, Charles sighed and patted her shoulder, amused at the flinch as he did so. He gave her a smile, enjoying the way how she turned even paler, which he hadn't thought was possible. 

“It’s a pleasure meeting you again, _ Nicky _.” The nickname had clearly reminded her of a bad memory, just like he intended. “But I need to go now, as I don’t want to keep my best friend waiting.”

That had definitely hit the mark. Nicolette started whimpering, she recoiled from him and ran. Like, literally running from him. Charles's eyes widened, then he let out a laugh.

Ah, the memories of when Nicolette had been back at his old school after revealing his true self to her, making the others turn against her and spreading rumours about her. He had had fun researching for her social media and exploiting it. She'd made the big mistake of posting a lot of things about her personal life. He knew what her parents looked like before they even met, he knew that she had a brother who hated her with a passion, he knew that she was homophobic.

Oh, he knew how the students in his old school were like, they hated homophobic people, despite being the mean rich kids they were. So Charles had the pleasure of logging into her account to make it obvious that she was homophobic, posting pictures and all to show that she was against people who were not heterosexual.

Firstly, how he had gotten her password, you ask? Well, Nicolette had written it in her ‘super-secret notebook’. He had sneaked a look at it without her knowing. It was pathetically easy to log into her other social media as she only used the same password for each. 

Why had he tried to ruin her reputation with the others? Well, it was fun. Surely you didn't expect him to just sit around and wait for the day he went back to his rightful home, Paris. He was not _that _patient.

Charles had finally arrived at the bakery, listening to the pleasant ring that the bells made as he opened the door to enter. Marinette had also walked downstairs in time. The sight of her made his mouth dry, and his mind blanked out for a brief second. To some people, she wasn’t wearing anything spectacular, just a casual blue dress and ended right above her knee and two blue bows that tied her pigtails back, accenting her delicate bone structure.

To him, though... He noticed that she had put on a little more make-up, blue eyeshadow and blue lipstick. Even cute blue shoes. 

He loved it.

“Why, Mari, you looked very pretty and blue today! Did you pretty yourself up just for me?” He teased, wrapping an arm around Marinette’s shoulder. Charles gave Tom a smile, with the big man returning a brighter and bigger one.

Surprisingly, Marinette's cheeks turned slightly pink, and she shook her head vigorously. “I did not! I j-just feel like dressing up in blue today.” 

Grinning from ear to ear, he faced her father. “We will be going to get ice cream, Mr Dupain-Cheng. Perhaps movies if we’re bored.”

“Yes, well, have a nice day you two! And be safe.”

“Yessir!”

“Bye, dad!”

* * *

Marinette and Charles were laughing as they walked to the park, holding their ice cream. Both of them walked past the fountain that was being used as a backdrop for Adrien, modelling in front of the camera, striking poses and showing that advertisement-grade smile. Marinette had glanced at the blond for a moment before looking back at Charles, trying her best not to think about her crush.

When Charles had agreed to go out for ice cream with her, she had been quick to get ready and choose her outfit for today. She didn't know why, but she'd decided to change her style a little by wearing blue.

Seeing Charles again in the bakery had made her heart race slightly faster. The boy himself was looking rather dashing, with his turtleneck shirt and cargo pants. His hair was styled handsomely, and his smile…

"Mari?"

She snapped out of her thoughts, her cheeks heating up at the sight of Charles's smile. With a familiar flutter in her stomach, Marinette managed to get her mouth to work. "Y-Yeah? Sorry, I was lost in thought."

The smirk that appeared on his face made her wary, it reminded her too much of Chat Noir.

"Oh? Was it my dashing looks that distracted you? Or my amazing and dazzling smile that rendered you speechless?" Charles said in his best 'dramatic and arrogant' voice, flipping his hair slightly and giving her the particular _look_ that would make any girl blush.

But Marinette was not any random girl. Instead, she smiled pleasantly, pushing his face away by the nose when he got too close.

"Of course not, you joker. I'm just thinking about some 'boring fashion stuff' as you call it."

_ 'Not really' _

Charles scrunched his nose, pouting slightly that it wasn't him that was occupying his princess's mind. He huffed and ate his ice cream, plopping himself on the bench that they'd stopped in front and sulked quietly.

But his pout didn't last long as he heard the laugh that bubbled gaily out of Marinette. _ That _definitely made him feel better. Her voice was like a goddess from above, a drop of sweetness and emotion that he needed in this boring life he was living.

Shuffling closer to the girl sitting beside him, both of them ate their ice cream in silence.

Charles observed the park around them lazily ad he listened absentmindedly to Marinette chattering beside him, letting her voice wash over him in their gentle waves. There was a fountain with Adrien modelling while the photographer yelled about spaghetti or something, and beautiful trees that swished side to side. Yep, abstract art was not exactly his forte.

He saw a pretty girl walking her dog, a good-looking guy wearing a business suit and hurrying to his destination. And a guy with red hair and vivid green eyes behind those ugly square glasses—

Wait, who?

Charles stopped licking his ice cream and took a good look at the ginger. His eyes widened, letting out a bark of laughter that startled Marinette.

Right there was definitely Noah Couture, standing beside the road, hugging a stack of books to his chest. What was he doing here in Paris when he should be in Créteil? Visiting perhaps?

A grin slid insidiously over his face without his permission, not that he noticed of course, when Noah looked over to see that he was sitting there, looking at the boy. Terrifyingly from the look of it when Noah’s face went white, just like little Nicky.

“Charles?” Looking back to see the bewildered girl he had forgotten for a moment, Charles went back to eating his ice cream with that grin still plastered on his face, ignoring her question until she gave up.

Maybe a call to Victor would be nice. After all, he was starting to miss his dear old _friends_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [11th October 2019] Olivander: I'm so sorry if this didn't look much, I'm putting all the actions in the next chapter.
> 
> [8th December 2019] Olivander: Scratch that, the next chapter is going to be an entirely different shit. Nothing that relates to this chapter, at all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles is mad at Lila, very mad. So mad that he went as far as to put her into the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not sure if I'm cut out for writing, honestly :T I feel like animating is my thing, but might be my self doubt.
> 
> And here I present you chapter 7. Tadaa, yay. I put this off for two months cause I wasn't sure what to write. Sorry about those who genuinely like this fanfic for whatever reason.
> 
> I finished this at 1 a.m, my brain is dead, so I need sleep.

_”Love can nurture.  
It can be torture.  
But that’s human nature.” _  
-AMP

Charles was starting to think that for once in his life, the Fates wanted him to be angry without the need to hide it. And for once, the Fates might be doing the just right thing to make him angry.

Anger. It wasn’t a feeling he felt often. Most of the time, he would calm down after a few seconds of internal raging. It wasn’t even be anger that he felt- Just annoyance or frustration, but not angry, exactly.

However, he’d been getting angrier than he had in the past ever since coming to Marinette's school. And that was saying something, as the students back in his old school couldn't even begin to rile him. But Collège Françoise Dupont's students, his classmates in particular, were treading on thin ice. They were going to be responsible for unleashing a monster if they didn’t tread carefully around him. And then…and then there was that pathetic peacock of a girl, _ Lila._

Oh, how he wanted to strangle her, to drown her, kill her with every method he knew. No, wait. Charles wanted to destroy what was most important to her- to humiliate her, break down the kingdom of lies she’d spent so long nurturing, and have her watch her admirers spit on her. Sitting in the same classroom, the only thought in his mind was of a fantasy where he could throw her out of the window. Then he wouldn’t have to put up with that pretty face which hid an empty brain. Maybe she'd hit her head on the ground, get a concussion, or become too dumb to talk. Or just die outright. Was it too much to ask for one annoying insect to die? Really? 

"A-And Marinette… O-Oh god… I'm too s-scared to t-tell you all… s-she might h-hurt me again…" There she was, buzzing away, as irritating as a housefly humming in his ear. He was trying his best to seem conflicted, as though he wanted to believe the best of Mari— ‘oh god, I'm so sorry Lila’ — but couldn’t immediately accept what Lila was saying. In truth, he wanted nothing more than to rip out Lila's tongue so that she would stop spinning those _ awful _ lies about his sweet little lady. He knew that this was a ploy to make his classmates hate Marinette even more, but it was almost a physical pain to act nice and kind to this bitch when all he wanted was to rid her of this world. Surely the world would thank him for ridding it of a plague. Yes, that’s exactly what Lila Rossi was: A bubonic plague on the surface of the earth, worse than the Black Death itself. 

"Lila, I'm sure Marinette wouldn't do that…" He said, his eyes darting around to evaluate his classmates’ reactions. Mere seconds after Lila ended her little storytelling session, Alya blew up and started ranting how Marinette had ‘taken it too far’ and that she ‘needed to be taught a lesson’. Charles tried his best to tamp down his anger, not wanting to blow his façade this early into the plan. It wasn’t easy in any sense of the word, but his act seemed to work since some of his classmates gave him sympathetic looks, thinking that he was in denial and conflicted, unable to believe his best friend could do such things. 

As Lila continued her sob fest, Charles stood up sharply, slamming the palms of his hands onto the table as he did so with a [i]slap[/i] that startled everyone. Head bowed, all they could see was how his arms were shaking like a leaf, his shoulders tensed. Taking a few deep breaths, Charles lifted his head again, a shaky smile plastered on that wobbled like jelly, struggling to hold on. “Excuse me, I’m going to eat now.”

Gathering up his stuff, he froze when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Charles turned slightly and saw it was Nino, a look of pity on his face. “Hey, take your time. I know this is a lot to digest at once. I almost can’t believe it myself, but I think Lila is telling the truth.” He said, as if he was trying to comfort Charles. 

Charles kept on smiling, giving Nino a nod before shrugging off the hand. He couldn’t take it anymore, he couldn’t take Lila’s lies, and he had to get out before he blew up on them. So he turned on his heels and headed straight out the door, slamming it behind him till the door rattled in its frame. 

He kept walking straight ahead, directionless, his mind unfocused. He really needed to let off some steam. All he could see was Lila held up by the throat with one hand, _ his _ hand, and punching her with his other hand. The screams she made were beautiful music to his ears. Marinette was standing by his side, watching in glee— no, no… she would never condone this. She would be terrified, of _ him _. 

Marinette, terrified of him? No, that couldn’t happen. It must NEVER happen. 

Still seeing red, Charles slunk behind a pillar so that he could calm himself, lest he attracted an akuma. Or maybe it was already coming. He had to be quick. With his back to the wall, Charles dropped his bag and let out a breath that shuddered through his entire body, his eyes beginning to sting. 

_ It was suffocating him, this anger. There were too many feelings. It hurt so badly, so why couldn’t it disappear? Why couldn’t he just throw it on the back burner of his mind like he always did? _

Charles could feel the wet tracks of tears sliding down his cheeks. One rolled down, following the contours of his face before ending at the cleft, the corner of his mouth. It was… salty, as it always was. 

Unable to keep himself upright any longer, Charles’s knees gave out as he slid to a sitting position, hugging his knees to his chest as he did the breathing exercises his father had taught him.

_ “Deep breath… That’s right, there you go. Now hold it… one… two… three. Exhale, slowly… that’s it. Let’s go again, okay? Deep breaths—” _

Charles repeated the exercise five times. Or was it seven? He couldn’t be sure. All he could think of was getting rid of those feelings so that he could breathe again. Three minutes passed, then five… then six. _Breathe,_ he reminded himself. 

It was quiet. So very quiet. He wasn’t suffocating anymore, was he? 

The noises of his surroundings filtered back in through the haze as if someone had turned the volume dial on his life back up. Charles stared at the wall, breathing light, tears dry. There was a soft tap on his shoulder- and there was Marinette crouching next to him, her hand resting on his shoulder. As always, her black hair reflected faint shades of blue when it caught the sunlight, tied in those two cute pigtails. A vision of loveliness, but this time, her distinctive bluebell eyes showed brightly in the pale, small face that held such worry, their focus entirely on him.

“What happened…” Marinette whispered, her eyes on him causing the butterflies in his stomach to somersault and soar. His chest, instead of being suffocated by previous feelings, felt tons lighter. He could breathe again. There was something about being around Marinette that relaxed him. They could talk about absolutely nothing for hours, and he’d be happy. They could sit together in total silence, and it would be a relaxed, thoughtful silence, not the awkward ones other people seemed to feel the need to fill with meaningless small talk.

“Lila.” He winced at how gruff his voice sounded, but Marinette didn’t seem to mind. Instead, anger flashed on her pretty features before being swiftly replaced by worry. “Oh… Wanna go back home to eat? And tell me what happened?” Charles simply nodded, grabbing his bag as she hauled him up from the floor.

“Come on, I’ve got some macaroons for you to try.”

Staring at the short girl before him, Charles wondered what he could’ve done to deserve this angel sent from Heaven itself.

* * *

Charles grinned behind his black mask, taking a tiny stoppered bottle of copper sulphate in each of his gloved hands. 

“Lovely, just what I needed.”

* * *

On Thursday, Charles came to school without Marinette, feeling rather uncomfortable without his best friend by his side. But he knew the girl understood what he was trying to do after telling her his plan… the non-murderous version, of course.

_ “Okay, so I just wanna let you know that tomorrow, I’m going to act like I’m avoiding you after our ‘argument’. He paused. “Maybe the next two days as well, if it doesn’t work on the first round.” His hands held hers, his heart hammering as he stared at those pretty bluebell eyes of hers. _

_ She sighed, giving him a go-ahead nod. At this, Charles let out a cheer, happy that he’d convinced her to let him continue with the plan to bring Lila down. _

Now, though, he wasn't sure if he could stand knowing he was intentionally distancing himself from Marinette. Maybe… maybe he shouldn't do this. What if Marinette found out? She would be so disappointed and sad. Or even mad at him. He didn't want that! He wouldn't be able to stand seeing disappointment in those eyes. 

_ 'Oh hell no! You can’t back out now! Remember why you're doing this. It's because of that bitch. If she hadn't been a problem, you could happily be with Marinette. Maybe even be friends with your classmates. But nooo, Lila just  _ ** _had _ ** _ to open that big mouth of hers and ruin everything. Ruin  _ ** _MARINETTE- _ ** _ She is RUINING Marinette. You have to get rid of her, it's the only way Marinette can be happy again.' _

Charles frowned, his hold on the straps of his bag tightening ever so slightly. His inner voice was right, he wouldn't have needed to do this if she wasn't a problem, a burden. She was a pest. Pests needed to be exterminated, and so he would kill her if he needed to. 

Halting before the classroom door, Charles took a deep breath and changed his demeanor completely. Exhaustion transformed his features, a stoop hunching his back, posture altering so he seemed to be hanging his head, facing the ground. As though it were too much effort to lift. All in all, a marvelous Hollywood performance. He opened the door as quietly as he could, but the door betrayed him and gave a loud creak of its hinges, making him wince at the many pairs of eyes that now turned on him.

He hoped this act was enough to convince them that he’d talked to Marinette about Lila, and that it hadn’t gone all that well. He shuffled quickly to his seat, keeping his eyes on the ground all the time, purposely bumping into Alya on the way. He apologized immediately, turning around to face her.

He took this opportunity to hazard a quick glance around, gauging his classmates’ reactions, and confirmed that his act was a success. Most of the students were looking at him with varying degrees of concern, while Her Royal Bitchiness Lila was the only one smirking. Ah, what he wouldn’t give to have her head served up on a silver platter. 

"It's okay… um, are you alright, Charles?" 

God, how he hated fake people who asked that. I mean, how dense can you get? Obviously he wasn’t ‘OK’ if a certain piece of shit was mouthing off at his lady. Grow some brain cells, eejit. Keeping a firm lid on the sarcastic comment that was just begging to claw at her, Charles took a deep breath and nodded, a small, wobbly smile gracing his face. "I'm alright. It’s just… something happened, that's all." 

He turned to walk back to his seat, and was stopped once again when someone caught ahold of his wrist. Charles turned yet again, slightly surprised to see that it was Adrien who’d stopped him this time. He had never talked to the blond before, so why in the world did he think he had the right to touch him? 

_ 'How dare he touch you, he has no right to stop you. Disgusting human, take your hand off right this instant. You’re already stealing Marinette's attention from him, stealing her love. How dare you how dare you HOW DARE YOU—' _

But no matter, it seemed like everyone was playing right into his plan, especially Lila. _Hold the fort for the sake of the plan_, Charles reminded himself. 

He focused his gaze on Adrien. "If you don't mind, Charles, but… do you want to tell us what got you so down? Maybe we can help you?" Ah, ever so polite. Charles decided to answer him since Agreste was being so  _ nice.  _

Charles’ lips thinned into a severe line, and he wrenched his wrist from the hand  _ gently _ and rubbed the spot with his own hand. "I was talking to Marinette about what she did to Lila yesterday and I…" He could feel it, the anger that was going to blow up if his thoughts about yesterday continued any further. He clenched his left hand, using his right to obscure the view so they couldn’t see the nails digging into the flesh. Shaking off those morbid thoughts, he gave them the lie he had been waiting to spring on them since he told Marinette of his plan. "We… well… we kinda had an argument… and now we're not on… speaking terms…"

Forcing himself to tear up, he let out a quiet sob and wiped his tears away with a thumb, risking a look out of the corner of his eye. 

He’d done it. Everyone was giving him those sympathetic looks, pitying little ol' Charles. Queen B's smirk had widened significantly, yet nobody saw it since their attention was focused on him. Strangely enough, Adrien looked conflicted. Guilty, even. 

_ 'He knows about Lila's lies too, remember? He feels guilty because he thinks that if he’d told you that Lila was lying, you and Marinette wouldn't have had 'argued'. Maybe he's going to tell you, who knows?' _

Ah, yes. Thank you inner voice, for reminding him.

Charles finished wiping off his tears, finally plopping down in his seat.

When Marinette took her seat next to him, he had a hard time keeping up his act. Charles's hands fisted again, and when Marinette shot him a questioning look, he pretended to reach for his pencil, simultaneously slipping the note he’d carefully prepared into her textbook as he did so. 

'It's working. They bought my act.'

  
  
  


Teachers came and went, following the regimented timetable, while Charles kept half an eye on the clock as the minute hand ticked down to recess. He shot out of his seat the second the bell rang, excusing himself hurriedly. Withdrawing a can of soda from the pocket of his bag, his heartbeat picked up, pumping adrenaline throughout his body. The plan was about to take root. 

Charles arrived at the cafeteria, almost sliding off the chair in his haste to claim good seat in full view of where Lila’s gang normally sat. He had to slap himself a few times, but it didn't help much as his excitement overrode the pain. While his actions seemed to have garnered a little attention from other students, it didn’t bother him at all. They weren’t intrinsic to the plan. Their opinions didn’t matter in this little drama. He only had to fool those closest to Lila, after all. 

Taking a few deep breaths, he steeled himself, his entire body language changing drastically. His once straight back hunched over, faux loneliness and sadness creeping over his face as he clenched the can a bit too tightly. 

Now, you may be wondering what had gotten him so excited for today. 

Well…

_ ~Flashback to yesterday~ _

_ Charles poured the copper sulfate into the blueberry shake with steady hands, his sinister smile widening as he watched the beautiful blue substance trickle into the curved glass, a giddy feeling materializing as he watched the blue lighten, just a little.  _

_ Since he wasn’t planning to kill her- _yet_, he tilted the small bottle back, halting the flow of CuSO4 into the depths of the frothy blue concoction.  _

_ Voila, a feat of chemical engineering. It wasn’t enough to kill her, but it was probably enough to ensure that he wouldn't have to see her for the next few weeks. It’s just pest control, Charles reminded himself as he added food coloring to shift the blue back to its original deeper hue. There. Now there was no differentiating it from a regular blueberry shake at school. After all, he’d done thorough research, ensuring the brand he used was the same as that of the school cafeteria operators.  _

_ Marinette wouldn't have to see her, either. They could both have blessed, Lila-free weeks.  _

_ The mere thought of Lila vomiting and weeping tears of pain upon consuming the shake made his heart jump with glee. Maybe this time, she would finally get the payback she deserved. She would suffer like he had always wanted her to. That blight would get what she’d had coming for a long, long time.  _

_ ~End of flashback~ _

Charles propped his head on his arms, watching his classmates stream into the cafeteria along with the other students. Most of them have him a few sympathetic looks, but nonetheless left him alone, his posture indicating a silent scream of _stay away_. 

It didn't matter. None of that mattered. He zeroed in on Lila, the girl who was doomed to be poisoned. Otherwise, she might simply throw it all up, and he’d have to try again with more copper. After all, he had another bottle. But hey, he’d pay good money just to see her puke all over her tailored uniform. Maybe scandalize her ‘friends’ a little bit. Not even Lila Rossi could possibly look good with bile all over her. He smothered a grin at the thought, refocusing his attention on the gaggle of helpless baby geese trailing their mother. 

There she has, High Queen of Lies holding court at her usual table, surrounding by the usual retinue of admirers and sycophants. Marinette was nowhere to be seen, most likely curled up in a lonely corner somewhere, tongue poking the side of her cheek in concentration as she sketched her designs. He could imagine her now, head bowed close to the notebook, pencil dancing over the page- the thought of her alone made his stomach turn, but there was no way around this. He had to do this. And if it meant avoiding her for the time being, then he would do it, for her sake. He would gladly throw more students into the fire if it meant keeping the precious light that was Mari happy. 

Wow, that was rather dramatic. 

Dragging his mind back to the present, Charles watched as a junior girl passed the food around to the senior ‘It Girls’, the blueberry shake going straight to the head of the table where Lila sat. Of course, she couldn’t know the hand he’d had in making that particular shake, since he wasn’t stupid enough to give it to her personally. He’d timed himself with a sprint to the cafeteria earlier, knowing that the junior classes let out five minutes after the seniors did. He also knew that Lila practiced ‘shuttles’- using her so-called ‘friends’ as lackeys to queue for her food. The junior girls who kissed that lazy ass were normally mini-Lilas-in-waiting, eager to climb the social ladder by getting in her good graces. 

It was all too easy to hush his (nonexistent) conscience. He’d dressed as a cafeteria operator, donning the apron and cap that shaded his face. He’d then hurried out of the kitchen area, pretending to crash into the girl with the shake, spilling it. Profuse apologies had followed. “It’s my fault. I’ll get you another one, free of charge.” He’d rushed back in the general direction of the kitchen area, making a short detour to the fridge. About a week ago, he’d started getting on good terms with the staff, helping out with food preparation, ostensibly to ‘learn to prepare a little something for Mom’s birthday’. Yeah, right. He’d been popping in and out of the common fridge ever since, getting them used to the sight of him in their coveralls, learning how they prepared the shake in the same way. Thus, nobody batted an eye when they saw the helpful boy getting another shake ready. 

He took the glass out, stuck a straw in it, then hightailed it back to the counter where the girl was waiting with her arms crossed, clearly impatient. 

“Sorry, ma’am.” The girl gave a dismissive huff and grabbed the shake, too hurried to bother taking note of a simple operator’s face. Yeah, just another day in the life of a uniformed occupation. Welcome to the life where nobody knew you or your name, and just couldn’t care enough to know. It was always safe to bet that when you donned a uniform, people saw your uniform, not the person wearing it. An easy-to-exploit weakness. 

Now, Charles’ eyes glinted as he watched Lila take the first sip of poison, still running her mouth off, spewing ever more lies in an effort to keep up her popularity by dissing everyone else not in her little clique. Damn, girl, if you ran as much as your mouth did, maybe you’d be in better shape. Maybe you wouldn’t have to rely on fruit shakes to keep your weight down. Grr. Why wasn’t it working yet? Surely there’d only be one blueberry shake in the fridge…? Lila continued drinking, the level of liquid in the glass dropping rapidly. 

Doubt assailed him for a moment. What if someone else had stashed a shake in there? What if the spiked drink was still in the back, behind the one he’d taken out? There wouldn’t be fingerprints, as he’d worn the operator gloves, but still…it might be linked back to him. Nobody would believe it was a simple case of food poisoning if it was found. Investigations would not bode well for him with his existing record. 

Shit. Shit. Shit. Better go back, go check- And then- oh, joy. Lila curled over, hands clutching her stomach, paling considerably. A scene from a movie came to mind: _T’est blême comme un mort,_ he thought morbidly. _You’re as pale as a ghost._ He’d DONE IT. 

Charles couldn't help it anymore. He couldn't fight the smile that threatened to steal over his features when he saw Lila in pain, wrinkles crinkling at the corner of her eyes. How much better she looked now! A serious improvement on the Botox-like plasticity of her usual expressions. He had to bury his face into his arms, heart palpitating so strongly it hurt. The excitement in him had grown, so much so that he could feel tears beginning to form. The grey-eyed boy stood up and dashed to the men's restroom, locking himself in a stall before chaos could break out.

He sat on the toilet lid, drawing a deep shuddering breath. Tears slipped between the cracks of his hands he’d used to cover his face, muffling the broken laugh bubbling in his throat.

He’d done it. Had successfully poisoned Lila with none the wiser. Now all he had to do was go back to the cafeteria, and dispose of the glass before someone thought to check. By the time they started sniffing around for evidence, the copper sulphate would be long gone down the drain, lost amid soap suds as the cafeteria operators always cleared the dishes after recess. 

It made him realize that he could've killed her.

Maybe he had. Maybe she was already dying at this very moment. Maybe he had poured too much copper sulfate, causing severe damage to her internal organs. If the major organs failed, she might die.

He was a killer. He could kill her if he wanted to. Because he realized that it was so  _ easy  _ to kill a naive person like her. It was so easy to get rid of her, just like that, poof. Poor little Rossi, died of copper sulfate poisoning. 

Oh god, was this what his love with his best friend was doing to him? Was his love for her turning him into a murderer?

_ 'Oh, get real. Don't act like you've never killed someone before.' _

Charles stiffened, his laugh halting as he uncovered his face, looking around the small stall he was in.

_ 'What about Aliya? Doesn't that ring a bell?' _

His breath caught in his throat, memories from the past accosting his mind.

_ 'Ah yes, not as innocent as you’d like to pretend. Even before you realized that you would kill for our dear angel, you’ve always loved ruining the lives of others. You drove her to suicide, didn't you? You did it with full knowledge of the consequences. You did it because you enjoy power you can hold in that moment, the capacity of pain you can inflict upon her, DIDN'T YOU?!' _

Charles couldn't speak, couldn't move. Tears continued to stream in silence down his face, the ache in his chest growing ever so slightly. That stupid emptiness. It had returned with a vengeance. 

_ 'You’ve already admitted that it's fun. Hurting them emotionally and physically is fun. The thought of them in pain, the hurt you cause, is amazing to you. Isn't it? Why are you crying now? Why are you getting so worked up about the fact that you could've killed Lila? Oh, is it because this also involves Marinette? Probably. After all, you're still  _ ** _human_ ** _ aren't you?' _

With nothing left to say, Charles hung his head, the quiet sobs dying away. 

_ 'Don't ever let those emotions loose. Don't let them control you. It'll hinder your plan. Besides, imagine the day that you'll finish her off, the day where you'll be able to end her breath with your own two hands. Think about it. Think about our dear angel. _

_ Don't lie to yourself. You love hurting others, you love watching them shrivel like an ant under a magnifying glass. It's fun, isn't it? Then keep going, and don't get caught. Or else you'll never see Marinette ever again. She doesn't need to know about your secret. No one will know. Have fun, and protect her.' _

_ You have a job to do. Finish it.  _

Hours later in History, Lila had thrown up mid-lesson. An ambulance had to be called, the girl was admitted to the hospital after a frenzy of busybody chickens clucking over her. 

Charles watched it all happen from his seat in the very back so that no one could see the satisfaction on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you managed to read through all of that. Good for you. Please forgive me if it's rushed, cause I can't time the scenes to save my life.
> 
> Kudos and constructive criticism are appreciated. Good day, good night.
> 
> * * *
> 
> When you finish editing this chapter for the first time at 2 in the am, and you click 'Preview' instead of 'Post'...and you didn't save a copy.  
#SecondRoundRodeo #FInChat  
-Scar


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